One Kingdom of Many Folk

So far we have covered the Lineages as they view themselves. Now we will step back and consider the interactions of so many varied folks across such a vast land.

Ordered Seniority

Three Lineages make claim to have arrived on Seln first: Izu, Alora, Flora. The truth is unknown. Instead, the Crown created a polite fiction of seniority, modeled on the clan.

The Crown accepts the role of Father and Mother, and your lineages are their children. In order of seniority:

  • Izu
  • Alora
  • Whistler
  • Wehr
  • Flora

At formal events and rituals, the most senior has the right to speak first. Less senior Lineages are expected to heed advice from “older” Lineages, and the older to care for the younger.

More realistically, Izuno and Aloran clans constantly butt heads. Most Alorans believe they should have been granted the elder role; most Izuno jealously guard the “proof” of their claims.

Like any good middle child, the Whistlers mostly ignore and are ignored by these quarrels.

Wehrans, being new to the Kingdom, have yet to coalesce on an opinion.

Florans, having accepted the junior role, often skip the formal events and rituals altogether. They dutifully accept advice from other clans and promptly discard it once out of sight.

Love and family

Though your lineage may greatly differ from your neighbors, all the folk of the Kingdom can have children together.

Lineage follows the mother. As the scholars explain:

The father’s contribution to child-bearing is brief, but the mother must spend moons nurturing her unborn child. Concordantly, the father’s contributions are limited to a few superficial hints, often overwritten completely by the mother’s influence.

Socially, marriage is controlled by the clan. Any legal marriage must have the consent of the clan leader. More powerful clans dictate who you will marry, scheming for political or mercantile gain. Smaller clans look at the potential dowry of any suitor. None of these factors consider the love of those involved.

Little wonder that some young couples choose to elope to the free cities beyond the inner wards in the face of such expectations!

Purity of the blood

Well, that’s kind of a worrying phrase, isn’t it?

You have no control over whether you are born with weak or strong lineage markings. While such markings tend to follow family lines, there is enough randomness to prevent guarantees in either direction.

This truth does nothing to prevent all manner of superstition and status associated with lineage markings. After all, the royal family all sport extremely strong lineage markings – quite possibly the strongest in the Kingdom – and any with such royal aspirations must match!

This issue is particularly prevalent in two places:

  • The royal courts of Alora
    • Greater nobility must be seen for the greatness they obviously carry
    • Lesser nobility seek any means to affirm their distinction from (gasp!) commoners
  • Old Izu
    • Powerful lineage markings are clearly a sign of favor from the Great Spirits

Such clans follow rigorous regimens of herbs, rituals, and and meditations meant to maintain their purity.

Unfortunately for them, these are mere superstition. Most of their children are born with similar lineage markings because these are their children!

If you are unfortunate enough to be born to such a high-status clan with “weak” lineage markings, you face the judgement of your elders for a crime cemented in your birth.

Recently, the Teacher program has begun introducing material to try and dispel these superstitions, but the old clans do not care to listen.

Language and writing

Each Lineage has brought with its language or writing of its own. However, five thousand years of rule has created an all-encompassing child language. The original tongues are known as the “high” forms of each tongue or writing. Typically, speakers and readers of the “high” forms are limited to scholars and the upper classes.

Spoken

The day-to-day language of the Kingdom is either Izuno or Aloran, depending on one’s proximity to the lineage strongholds. You and every other citizen learn one of these two spoken languages; you can expect to be able to converse with anyone else in the Kingdom (accents and local slang notwithstanding) knowing the same.

The communication gap between the Izuno and Aloran spheres of influence is just one more factor driving the increased isolation of Izu.

Too lazy to build new languages

Building new languages for a fantasy game is difficult. Instead, we will steal existing languages for the Lineages. Now if you want to learn a Lineage language, you can put it to use outside!

  • Izuno – Japanese
  • Floran – French
  • Wehran – Swedish
  • Whistler – Spanish
  • Aloran – Being a kludged zombie of a language formed from a dozen distinct parts locked in a death struggle for supremacy, the kind of abomination language that makes scholars weep for its sheer cruelty, this will of course be English

Spirits, Shades, Fae, and the neighbors of the Kingdom all have their own tongues, and you cannot be guaranteed that you will share a language. Enterprising cultivators go out of their way to learn the tongues of both allies and enemies!

Written

You and most people you know are probably illiterate. Kingdom literacy rates hover around twenty percent, concentrated among the bureaucratic class. This is beginning to improve as the Teacher program spreads.

The Lost High Script of Alora

Alorans were born of blood and rose with no language or writing of their own. Yet in the deeps of Seln, there are strange markings among the bone-like rock. This script is chiseled and sharp, perfect for claws, and its secrets tantalize seekers even now.

There are old Aloran scrolls that share the same script, but none remember their meaning. If this truly was Alora’s high script, its meaning has been lost during the Kingdom’s dark age.

Just what sorts of secrets lurk in this lost script?

Instead of full fledged literacy, you and your fellows would have learned simplified Aloran, a pictographic shorthand of common symbols such as taverns, shops, and government offices. Using these symbols you can navigate daily life. For more complex requirements, find a scribe.

For those graced with literacy, the Kingdom has a rich history of poetry and history scattered across the high scripts. Each lineage wrote in its own high script, and none today hold all the secrets. Should you find an ancient scroll, your work has only just begun – you must decipher it!

Stereotypes and grudges

Here are a few of the stereotypes and grudges that persist in the modern day.

Against Alora:

  • You were born from dragons. Yeah, we get it. Maybe if you spent less time polishing your horns and more time looking around you we wouldn’t be in this mess!
  • An Aloran never passes up the chance for a speech. Their whole Lineage is built on words, and they can’t pull a stick out of the mud without commemorating the occasion!
  • Damned crooked Aloran judge cost me a year’s pay with that scheme of his! But if I hadn’t paid, he would have claimed my farm as repayment for “ward repairs” and left me penniless!

Against Flora:

  • When are the Florans going to do something about that awful pixie infestation? The things are everywhere! I found one in my bath, scrubbing her back and singing a limerick! The Grand Fae were our deadly enemy, and here we have an entire Lineage hosting their little cousins!
  • You know how people think of Florans. Small, cute, a bit ditzy. Except I visited during the Grand Soccer Finals, and the town was on fire! People were burning wagons and trash cans because of a referee call! When the Florans get into a game, they go nuts!
  • Floran casinos fleece you for every dime! They lure you in with the winnings and then clean your whole clan out! I’ve heard they’ve got the worst losers in the back washing dishes till they turn grey!
  • I’ve never seen a gaggle of brats quite like the Florans! Full-grown and galivanting around like children! The Alorans run their forest like a giant daycare. I for one wish they’d keep a better eye on the door!

Against Izu:

  • I’m not fooled by pageantry. The Izu are claimed by their Great Spirits, half-beast from the start. I’ve heard that when the moon grows full, they shed their folk half and run wild through the woods!
  • Have you seen how they treat their children? Test after test, trial after trial! Its not right, grinding away your children for some position in their labyrinthine bureaucracy.
  • I traveled two years to reach an Izuno mystic, and he turned me away at the door. No coin nor word would sway him. He said my spirit was not ready! How convenient for him! That Lineage wouldn’t share a secret with us to prevent the isle from exploding!

Against Whistlers:

  • Wandering is all well and good, but a man’s not going to put his heart into a deed when he knows he has a back door. They’ll dispense service with a smile, but their loyalty is only to their wagons.
  • Just the other day, my poor Gregbert found the most scandalous scrolls! When I discovered its contents and demanded to know its origin, he told me that the caravan sold it to him. Don’t they have any respect for our laws?!
  • We were halfway to Izu when the caravan stopped. The head driver walked every wagon back, explaining that there were unexpected delays, and demands half again the payment or we’d have to turn back!

Against Wehr:

  • Show some respect already! This Kingdom was founded when your forefathers were suckling babes! We’ve suffered worse than your Mad King. You’d know that if you’d open your ears and listen for a change!
  • I have never once seen a folk with less respect for Harmony! After our King saved them from the centauri, they stomp flat-fooded over every inch of those plains, breaking the dirt to search for metal for their tools. Metal! In the ground!
  • Spirits and Shades, have you tried the latest cuisine out of Bern? I nearly died! Who in their right mind can sell that vile abomination as food?! The mere taste of it set my gut into an emergency I shan’t describe! No Lineage with such tastes can be trusted.